Isaiah 29

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 705 BC – 701 BC · Judah alone · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

24 verses · 638 words · ~3 min read · ~4 min listen

Woe to Davidʼs City

Luke 19:41–44

¹Woe to you, O Ariel,

the city of Ariel where David camped!

Year upon year

let your festivals recur.

²And I will constrain Ariel,

and there will be mourning and lamentation;

she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

³I will camp in a circle around you;

I will besiege you with towers

and set up siege works against you.

⁴You will be brought low,

you will speak from the ground,

and out of the dust

your words will be muffled.

Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground;

your speech will whisper out of the dust.

⁵But your many foes will be like fine dust,

the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff.

Then suddenly, in an instant,

⁶you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts

with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,

with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

⁷All the many nations

going out to battle against Ariel—

even all who war against her,

laying siege and attacking her—

will be like a dream,

like a vision in the night,

⁸as when a hungry man dreams he is eating,

then awakens still hungry;

as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,

then awakens faint and parched.

So will it be for all the many nations

who go to battle against Mount Zion.

⁹Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be sightless;

be drunk, but not with wine;

stagger, but not from strong drink.

¹⁰For the Lord has poured out on you

a spirit of deep sleep.

He has shut your eyes, O prophets;

He has covered your heads, O seers.

¹¹And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” ¹²Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

¹³Therefore the Lord said:

“These people draw near to Me with their mouths

and honor Me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from Me.

Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.

¹⁴Therefore I will again confound these people

with wonder upon wonder.

The wisdom of the wise will vanish,

and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

¹⁵Woe to those who dig deep

to hide their plans from the Lord.

In darkness they do their works and say,

“Who sees us, and who will know?”

¹⁶You have turned things upside down,

as if the potter were regarded as clay.

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,

“He did not make me”?

Can the pottery say of the potter,

“He has no understanding”?

Sanctification for the Godly

¹⁷In a very short time,

will not Lebanon become an orchard,

and the orchard seem like a forest?

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The humble will increase their joy in the Lord,

and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ruthless will vanish,

the mockers will disappear,

and all who look for evil

will be cut down—

²¹those who indict a man with a word,

who ensnare the mediator at the gate,

and who with false charges

deprive the innocent of justice.

²²Therefore the Lord who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed

and no more will his face grow pale.

²³For when he sees his children around him,

the work of My hands,

they will honor My name,

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,

and they will stand in awe

of the God of Israel.

²⁴Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

Footnotes (5)

a v1 Or Altar Hearth or Lion of God; probably a nickname for Jerusalem; twice in this verse, twice in verse 2, and once in verse 7
b v2 Or like Ariel; see the footnote for verse 1.
c v13 Hebrew; LXX They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men. Cited in Matthew 15:8–9and Mark 7:6–7
d v14 Hebrew; LXX I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will hide the intelligence of the intelligent. Cited in 1 Corinthians 1:19
e v16 Cited in Romans 9:20

Study notes on this chapter · 2

QuotationLinked by the New Testament

Honoring God with lips while the heart is far away

Jesus tells the Pharisees that Isaiah described them when he spoke of people honoring God with their lips while their hearts are far from him, teaching human rules as if they were God's commands.

When: Isaiah, c. 700 BC; Jesus' controversy over hand-washing, c. AD 29–30.

Original passageIsaiah 29:13

Where the New Testament applies itMark 7:6–8Matthew 15:7–9

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentLinked by the New Testament

The blind see, the lame walk

When John the Baptist asks from prison whether Jesus is the coming one, Jesus answers by listing what is happening: the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised, the poor hear good news. These are the signs Isaiah linked with God's coming to save.

When: Isaiah, c. 700 BC; Jesus' reply to John's disciples, c. AD 28–29.

Original passageIsaiah 35:5–6Isaiah 29:18–19Isaiah 61:1

Where the New Testament applies itMatthew 11:2–6Luke 7:18–23